[barricades]

Hi there everyone.

I have a property in Portugal which is currently being built but is due for completion sometime shortly after April 09. I still have 70% to pay on it but with the way exchange rates are moving it is getting more and more expensive.

I know I could have gotten a deal a year and a bit ago when I first put money down where I could have had a guaranteed rate in the future, but I didn't take it. At the minute I'm trying to decide what to do. Should I just hold on and hope there's a better rate in a few months or should I be looking to try to get todays rate? In fact is there anything else I can do? Unfortunately I don't have a lot of experience with this.

Thanks in advance

[Caribbean Beauty]

barricades, on Dec 23 2008, 12:28 PM, said:

Hi there everyone.

I have a property in Portugal which is currently being built but is due for completion sometime shortly after April 09. I still have 70% to pay on it but with the way exchange rates are moving it is getting more and more expensive.

I know I could have gotten a deal a year and a bit ago when I first put money down where I could have had a guaranteed rate in the future, but I didn't take it. At the minute I'm trying to decide what to do. Should I just hold on and hope there's a better rate in a few months or should I be looking to try to get todays rate? In fact is there anything else I can do? Unfortunately I don't have a lot of experience with this.

Thanks in advance

Welcome Barricades! I do not know much about locking in fx rates etc, but this is what I reckon your choices are:

1. Pay the final 70% and incur greater fx costs of circa 30%+ on the final balance only, then standby and watch your asset lose (lost already?) much more than the increased cost in its resale value. Also, be prepared to pay a lot more to get to your property as the LCC droute-drop and price-gouge as more and more flight competitors drop out due to low demand. Finally, choosing this option means one must take great care to ensure that your devloper does not take the final payments then go bust leaving your resort an unfinished uninhabitable ghost town (visit and ensure the utilities etc are all hooked up too, as well as the buildings finished and landscaping and maintenance taken care of)

0r

2. Walk away from the 30% down-payment and save yourself heaps of cash (ie greater losses) in the short term. Then, once the resort is finished and there are dozens of unfinished apartments or villas lying unsaleable by the cash strapped developers, hit them with a 50% below asking offer to purchase. Your 50% off gross saving will negate your 30% deposit loss plus the fx rate might have moved in your favour and at least this way you get to see if the resort is ever completed or goes belly up.

Good luck

[barrabus]

I was in the same position last year, buying in inland Costa Del Sol and walked away from a 20,000 euro deposit, which hurt.The developer has just been in touch and offered me the same property for 60,000 euro less than we had agreed to buy for,and i think in 3 month they will be even cheaper.

[david-s]

barricades, on Dec 23 2008, 04:28 PM, said:

Hi there everyone.

I have a property in Portugal which is currently being built but is due for completion sometime shortly after April 09. I still have 70% to pay on it but with the way exchange rates are moving it is getting more and more expensive.

I know I could have gotten a deal a year and a bit ago when I first put money down where I could have had a guaranteed rate in the future, but I didn't take it. At the minute I'm trying to decide what to do. Should I just hold on and hope there's a better rate in a few months or should I be looking to try to get todays rate? In fact is there anything else I can do? Unfortunately I don't have a lot of experience with this.

Thanks in advance

Hello,
You can open an sterling account with a few banks in portugal,and wait till the rate rises again,
Which is predicted ,alas not to the 1.5 rate it was,predicted to come back to around 1.18-1.20
It all stems from Gordon Brown stating he will not bail out the pound so all brokers are selling
sterling waiting for it to hit so called rock bottom,then they all buy it again raising it against the €
follow this link http://www.bloomberg...id=akPAtFeADlSI
if you require further assistance Private message me,
i am licenced by INCI-7084